It was suggested by 19^th century painter Jules Breton that “France had lost its Holbein” when Bastien-Lepage died in 1884.  Bastien-Lepage , in addition to his landscapes and Salon pictures, enjoyed great success as a portraitist.  The year he executed this work, he finished a portrait of the His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales which is in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace.  An important characteristic of the Naturalist Movement of this time was that whether Bastien-Lepage was painting a peasant, bootblack or nobility mattered less to him than capturing the unique personality of the sitter.